In India, some festival is celebrated almost every week esp. in the period intervening between Rakhsabandhan and Diwali. One such fetsival is 'Gadbade', which is celebrated in haryana on Sharad Purnima which falls in the month of Oct or Nov. On this day, the Moon is brightest in the entire year. On this festival, moonlight or prakash is worshipped. The festivities start in the evening. Gadbade is name of the earten pot with holes, which are lighted with diyas . In the evening these pots are painted and are worshipped after the moon is visible in the sky. One Gadbada each is lit for each family
member. After the puja, the elders of the family and neighborhood place coins in the pots of childern as the mark of their good wishes and ashirwad. After that the Gadbade are placed in corners of the house to ward away the Andhkar

Some myths are also associated with Sharad purnima. It is believed that, on this day moonlight has special powers, like the eyesight of the person putting thread in needle repeatedly improves. Also eating kheer placed under moonlight is supposed to cure many diseases like asthma.

Humans communicated and recorded history through speech long before there were books or written records. Storytelling is one of the oldest art forms known to humans. Long before modern media entertained us storytelling was a common pastime, and a good storyteller was a valuable attribute to the community. Folktales and fables are one of the oldest educational tools through which cultures have passed down values and lore from one generation to the next.

Listening to stories can be a vivid creative experience. Most of a story told takes place in the imagination of the listener. Through the magic of language and the storyteller's skill, stories can come to life with landscapes and costumes as colorful and complex as the creative listener devises.

Indian mythogolgy is filled with stories that convey great lessons in a very simple manner. The stories of Panchtantra are full of worldly wisdom and lessons. Here is one such story, "Once upon a time there were two friends :a sparrow and a crow. They had a small piece of land on which they used to cultivate grains. When the time came for ploughing the field, the sparrow went to the crow and said to him, 'We should go and plough the field'. The crow asked the sparrow to go ahead and start ploughing the field and he will join her after finishing an urgent work. The sparrow worked the whole day in scorching heat but the crow did not show up. After a day, sparrow again went to crow and said to him ,'We should go and sow the seeds'. The crow again asked the sparrow to go ahead and start sowing the field and he will join her after finishing an urgent work. The sparrow worked alone for the entire day and crow didn't show up. After sometime sparrow went to the crow and said to him, 'We should go and water the plants'. The crow again asked the sparrow to go ahead and start irrigating the field and he will join her after finishing an urgent work. The sparrow worked alone and crow didn't show up. After sometime sparrow again went to the crow and said to him,' Crop is ready for harvesting, we should go and harvest the field'. The crow again asked the sparrow to go ahead and start harvesting the field and he will join her after finishing an urgent work. The sparrow worked alone and harvested the field. After completing the work, she went to the crow and said to him, 'I have done the whole work alone, now its time for dividing the produce, come with me. ' On listening these words, crow flew ahead of saprrow and saw two heaps, one of hay and one of grains, in the field. When sparrow reached the field, huffing and puffing, she saw crow sitting on the heap of grains. Sparrow asked for her share in grains, the crow rebuked her and threatened her. The sparrow asked him to show mercy on her as she would have nothing to eat in the coming year. The crow didn't listen to a word and asked her to go away. Dejected by the behaviour of crow, sparrow made a home for herself in the heap of hay. That night it rained very heavily, the grains started flowing away in the water. The crow knocked at the door of the sparrow, asked her to forgive his misdeeds and requested her to let him in. But sparrow rejected his plea and he was drown in the water".
The moral of the story is that we have to face the ill effects of our misdeeds in this world only. So we should try to be good. The story also conveys the message that we should keep performing our dharma irrespective of the cirumstances and the behavior of others. For example, in this story sparrow did the work and still went to the crow to give his share to him.

India is a land of diversity, be it the geographical expanse of India with mighty himalayas in the north, the Thar desert in the west and water of three seas mingling in the south, or the cultural diversity of the people inhabiting India- following different faiths, having different cultures and speaking different languages. India's population of approximately 1.17 billion people (estimate for July, 2009) consists of more than two thousand ethnic groups, and every major religion is represented, as are four major families of languages (Indo-European, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman languages). The diversity of languages is reflected in proverb often quoted for India "कोस कोस पर बदले पानी, चार कोस पर वाणी".

The Indian culture has faced the onslaught of other cultures of the world for ages as invaders like Babur, Mohd. Ghazni, French and English attacked India, attracted by India's wealth and prosperity. Indian culture withstood these attacks and evolved in the process by assimilating various aspects of other cultures. But today this vibrant, and dynamic culture is faced with crisis. As per a report of UNESCO, about 196 Indian languages are on the verge of extinction. If language is extinct, it either means that there is no surviving member of the community which used to speak that language or the community has adopted more refined languages for example Hindi or English. In both cases, the extinction of language signifies that all the traditions, culture and heritage would be lost alongwith that language. Apart from the major festivals like Diwali, Id etc. celebrated by Indians, every community has some tradition of folksongs and folklores which exists mainly in oral form. This heritage is passed on to the next generation in form of stories or the new generation learns them by participating. With more people moving out of their family homes for jobs and education, this culture and heritage is also getting lost.